Kirby Smart analyzes Georgia run defense in Mizzou win

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was not happy with his team’s run defense after the 43-6 throttling of Missouri and he talked about the reasons why he thought his defense got gashed a few times on Saturday.

“I felt like we were running up the field. We had two times that we didn’t get in our gaps. You have to have discipline. Everybody on defense has to do their job or you have a hole. We had a couple holes there early where they gashed us because we had guys running up the field. You can’t do that if you have a good defense. You can’t be selfish. You’ve gotta buy into your job and execute your job. I think when we go back and watch the tape, we’ll find guys that didn’t do their job,” Smart said.

The Georgia run defense allowed 121 rushing yards to Missouri, 41 yards above its season average of 80 per game. Of the Tigers’ 121 rushing yards, 74 came from their dual-threat quarterbacks. Tyler Macon had 42 rushing yards on 11 carries, and Brady Cook tallied 32 yards on 10 carries.

Macon was gashing Georgia’s defense early with his legs, running free in the open field. He had a nine-yard carry on the second play of the game. Later on a third-and-six, he ran for 20 yards to extend the Missouri drive that resulted in a field goal.

Georgia didn’t learn until Friday afternoon that Missouri starting quarterback Connor Bazelak would be out with an injury.

The Bulldogs had no such problems in stopping Missouri running back Tyler Badie, one of the most underrated tailbacks in the country. He’d rushed for over 200 yards in three games so far in his 2021 season coming into the Georgia game. The Bulldogs stifled him to just 41 rushing yards on nine attempts.

For the season, the Memphis, Tenn. native has already rushed for over 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns. Not only that, he’s hauled in 45 catches for over 300 receiving yards and four touchdowns through the air.

While the Georgia run defense did have its moments of getting gashed on Saturday, they should feel good about bottling up a running back like Badie, one of the nation’s best.

Georgia defense faces Hendon Hooker next

If the Bulldogs had trouble with Macon and Cook, they’d better get the issues squared away and fast because they face Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in America.

He just came off of his best game of the season against Kentucky–torching the Wildcats for 316 passing yards and four touchdowns through the air, while running for 41 yards on the ground. Tennessee upset Kentucky 45-42. Hooker’s epic performance was good enough to earn him On3 Player of the Week honors from On3’s Mike Huguenin. He ran for over 100 yards against the Ole Miss defense earlier this season.

Georgia will need to be much better at defending the quarterback draw plays on Saturday, or else he’ll make them pay dearly for it. Hooker’s stats are impressive.

Check out the tweet from On3’s Matt Zenitz.

Hendon Hooker in seven games as Tennessee’s starting QB:

— 23 touchdowns (19 passing, four rushing)
— One interception
— 69 percent passing (113 of 164)
— 243 passing yards per game
— 51 rushing yards per game
— 38.9 points per game

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) November 7, 2021

The Georgia defense has done some incredible things thus far, but as Saturday showed, there’s still a few things they can work on.

The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs will take on the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. EST from Knoxville, Tennessee.